Producer Malay On Zayn’s Reinvention and What Frank Ocean’s Up To

James Ho’s handprints are all over big projects — from Big Boi’s Sir Lucious Left FoottotUnE-yArDs’s Nikki Nack to Alicia Keys’ Girl On Fire — but there is one album in particular that gets the Grammy-winning producer, songwriter, and engineer known as Malay a bit of work: Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange. “That’s probably one of the reasons I get in the studio with new artists in the first place,” admits Malay, who worked on 13 of the 17 songs on Ocean's 2012 near-masterpiece. “Coming to me, it’s not necessarily that they want to sound like Frank, but they want to work with somebody who can help them get their own identity.”

It was hardly surprising, then, to learn that the latest act hoping for some of that Channel Orange magic was Zayn Malik, former One Direction member turned soul-thirsty lover-boy ready to establish solo bonafides. Malay will tell that you artists like Zayn, with whom he worked extensively on the singer’s just-released solo debut Mind of Mine, aren’t so much trying to replicate Ocean’s very specific aesthetics. “If anything,” he says, “that record inspired kids to even moreso want to have their own identity. They all want to be in that Frank Ocean position — not necessarily sonically but in the way Frank created his own lane.”

To Malay, the role of producer is as much about serving as a friend and therapist as it is building sounds. He’s learned the necessary art of the on-the-fly adjustment: Where Ocean was a studio rat – Malay laughs when remembering Ocean logging 30 consecutive days of in-studio vocal takes for “Pyramids” – Zayn, by contrast, was itching to escape the vocal booth. Over the three months Zayn and Malay worked together, crafting songs like “iT’s YoU,” “BeFoUr,” and the beatific acoustic-guitar anchored “fLoWer,” the two would regularly record in unorthodox locales, from a tent in the Angeles National Forest to Zayn’s backyard in L.A. “We’re talking about a kid who has been stuck in the studio for five years while touring like a machine,” Malay says of the 23-year-old tabloid fixture. “The producers, or whomever he was working with, were forcing him to sing a certain way.”

Since wrapping Mind of Mine, Malay’s been focused on completing Ocean’s long-delayed follow-up to Channel Orange. Ocean’s lauded debut LP was a pored-over affair, but Malay says there’s a decidedly more relaxed atmosphere this go-round. “A lot of the stuff on this new album was done with a handheld mic sitting in the control room,” he says. “Frank’s exploring different vibes completely on this album. I wouldn’t say it’s vocally looser but just his mentality; it doesn’t seem as meticulous at certain times.”

Pitchfork: In addition to Zayn and Frank Ocean, you’ve recently logged studio time with Miguel, Vic Mensa, Alessia Cara, and Raury. How do you tailor your approach as a producer and writer to an artist?

Malay: For me, it’s about helping these artists be comfortable in whatever environment. That’s how you’re going to get those great vocals. On the geeky side of producing or engineering, people will be like, “What microphone do you use to record Zayn? I love the way his vocals sound.” Some producers will be like, “I only use this Sony 800G for vocals because that’s what Celine Dion recorded on and it’s a $10,000 microphone and that’s all I’ll use.” But at the end of the day, a lot of the recordings for Zayn were done literally in his backyard while I’m playing the speakers through his sliding door on a $300 SM7 mic. For him to be comfortable, it was all about creating that environment. Whereas an artist like John Legend, for example, he’s the opposite: He’ll come to the studio and be like, “You want to cut vocals? Cool.” He’ll go in the booth, cut three or four takes and he’s done.

Pitchfork: You have a distinct sound — lush synths, mellow soul harmonies, ultra-crisp drums, vulnerable vocals —but you seem more interested in following the vision of whatever artist you’re working with, rather than someone craving individual recognition for your production staples.

M: In my mind I imagine that I’m more transparent as a producer. I’ve heard a lot of people say, “We can definitely tell it’s you.” Maybe that’s because I don’t necessarily work so much in the box. A lot of younger producers coming up create most of their music on their laptops, which is fine — but it’s a different sound altogether. I’m trying to be on the other end of that. I just try to look at each project differently. I’m not trying to give people tracks like, “Hey, this is my thing, fit into this mold.” I don’t really come to the studio with tracks already premade or songs completed. I’m not really in that world. Generally for every song that I do, I come in the studio and we’ll try to create something new from scratch.

Pitchfork: What were the challenges of working with an artist like Zayn, someone with a built-in fanbase, a large portion of whom already feel they know who he is as an artist?

M: Literally I think his intention was to kind of do the exact opposite of his previous situation. Which is probably why we went and did things a bit more extreme than normal, like being outside in tents [laughs]. We kind of just jumped right in. I met with his management a couple times first and they gave me the spiel from their side. But for me, you can talk about stuff forever; I’d rather just hop in and see how it’s gonna work with the artist. We’re both pretty similar personalities: chill, laid-back. I think that was nice for him, coming out of scenarios where typically the producer already has a song ready to go, and he’s just gotta hop in the studio to sing it and they’re just trying to duplicate the demo, basically.

Pitchfork: Is it important for you to focus exclusively on one project at any given time?

M: In this day and age, you have to be super flexible. These artists, their schedules are crazy and inconsistent, not by their choice but based on who they are and what they have going on. I might be working on eight projects at the same time. There are always things happening and moving. It’s kind of nice though: When you get stuck in one thing, you can start making it stale. It’s nice to walk into a project again after time away. It’s almost like it feels fresh.

M: It’s so weird. The inception of those songs came from such different places. I honestly never thought about the similarities until Zayn performed it on “Fallon.” Some of his fans started tweeting me like, “This reminds me of ‘Bad Religion’” I was like, “Oh shit! It kind of does!” It’s kind of really similar with the organ. I never thought about it until that moment. When a fan brought it to my attention, it was pretty cool.

Pitchfork: So, when should we expect the new Frank Ocean album?

M: I always tell people: When he’s ready, the world is gonna get it. It could be tomorrow… well not tomorrow but maybe a month [laughs]. We’ve all been working hard. He’s been working super hard. I feel like he’s working harder than he’s ever worked in his life. I’m excited for everyone to hear it. I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised, for sure.